Brussels, 18/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 17 May, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan criticised the US attitude in the negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP). He reproached Washington with only being interested in dismantling tariffs at this stage.
At the EU agriculture ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, at which Commission informed the Council (at Austria's request) about progress in the TTIP negotiations at the end of the 13th round of technical level talks in New York at the end of April (see EUROPE 11453), Hogan again criticised the US position in these negotiations.
He regretted that New York had not permitted “any breakthrough” because of the US “lack of ambition”. He said the Americans “want the liberalisation of trade to the exclusion of other issues” that are key for the EU - such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures, non-tariff barriers and geographical indications. With regard to the latter, the US “should budge, but we haven't seen anything”, Hogan said, regretting the lack of interesting proposal from the US, “especially if we want to conclude at the end of the year”.
Despite some progress noted at New York on the consolidation of texts in the regulatory and rules pillars, much work remains to be done and bridges to be built in order to satisfy the EU's offensive interests - market access for services and access to public procurement, and protection of geographical indications - and complete an agreement in principle by the end of 2016.
On Friday 13 May, the EU trade ministers reaffirmed their desire to conclude an ambitious TTIP in all key areas for the EU by the end of 2016 (see EUROPE 11551).
On that occasion European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström gave assurances that they were working flat out in order to reach an agreement before the end of the Obama administration. She also reaffirmed the prime importance of the content over the timetable. “We want overall balance and we are not yet there”, she said, stating that the EU “wanted a level of balance equivalent to the offers for everything concerning market access - tariffs, services and public procurement”. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)